The spellbinding classic that started it all from the #1 New York Times bestselling author--the inspiration for the hit television series A magnificent compulsively readable thriller . . . Rice begins where Bram Stoker and the Hollywood versions leave off and penetrates directly to the true fascination of the myth--the education of the vampire. --Chicago Tribune Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic shocking and chillingly sensual this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force--a story of danger and flight of love and loss of suspense and resolution and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.